grandchildren. >> that is just the start of our plan for languages at risk. in the second part of the series, we're off to a community in the philippines seen here. the language there is considered the most endangered there is in that country. all of the stories at aljazeera.com. aljazeera.com. ♪ isn't he a huge business success in doesn't he no what he is talking about? no, he isn't. and no, he doesn't. [ cheers ] >> mitt romney lays into republican front runner, donald trump. maryland's highest court hears arguments against the officers charged in the death of freddie gray. and reports of north korea firing short-range rockets just hours after new international sanctions are imposed.

♪ this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm richelle carey. former republican presidential nominee, mitt romney has jumped into the republican civil war, attacking g.o.p. front runner, donald trump's character, calling him a fraud and a phony. >> there's plenty of evidence that mr. trump is a conman, a fake. mr. trump has changed his positions not just over the years, but over the course of the campaign, and on the ku klux klan daily for three days in a row. we will only really know if he is a real deal or a phony if he releases his tax returns. >> donald trump tweeted, of course, that he would be in the air the next two hours, flying to a campaign event in maine. however, earlier he tweeted

this: and then speaking on msnbc this morning, trump said that romney, that's a quote, for his endorsement in 2012. >> he failed at his campaign. it was a horribly-run campaign. he was a disaster the last month, month and a half. he wasn't on television. it was almost like he was lost, and he ran one of the worst campaigns as you know in presidential history. in that was an election that should have been won by the republicans. he was a catastrophe. >> joining me now is david shuster. >> remarkable, right? >> shocking that donald trump would speak of mitt romney that way. but obviously no one knows whether or not he begged for his endorsement. but four years ago, mitt romney put out there that donald trump was endorsing him, and now he makes -- just ethered him today.

>> mitt romney in 2012 called donald trump a great job creator. and now he is saying he inherited everything. mitt romney didn't even address his previous remarks. but there's a deep divide in the republican party not over whether donald trump is acceptable. a lot of the establishment think he is simply unacceptable. the question is how do you contain him? do you contain him by beating him? or do you contain him by working with him, by working with him. a lot of republicans think it's too late. you can't beat him. the best thing we can do is try to work with him. some members of congress saying i can work with donald trump, and then there are those, like mitt romney and a lot of people who are throwing up a lot of money saying no, we still have a chance to beat him. we are going to throw everything we have, and that's what mitt romney was doing today. >> so he is saying let's throw our support behind one of the

other candidates, but does the republican party if they want to stop donald trump need to pick one candidate? >> and that's exactly the rub. perhaps in a head-to-head matchup there's a chance that that other candidate could win the majority of the rest of the states, and it's winner take all. but that's the problem, as long as we have marco rubio maybe winning florida, john kasich maybe winning ohio with a very big maybe on it, because they haven't won so far except for the caucuses that went to rubio, donald trump as long as he has other candidates in the race, he can still get a majority of the delegates, and win most of the delegates with a simple plurality victory, and until they get back to head-to-head, it's hard to see how the math would work in anybody's favor but donald trump. >> so why the hesitancy to unite

behind one candidate? >> great question again, because marco rubio believes that he is the one who deserves to go to florida in two weeks and win florida. john kasich says i'm the guy that can win ohio, and ted cruz says i'm the guy that has beaten donald trump in primaries. the republican party cannot decide which of the three it should be. their egos are huge. they think they are the anti-trump and there's no way of convincing them to get out. >> is it an overstatement to say this is an existential fight. >> i think that's true. if he wins the white house, donald trump is pledging to change republican policies on foreign policy, the economy, on entitlement programs -- >> and that's if he means those things because he flip flops so

much. >> he may put in place policies that republican old guard has to spending the next 30 years trying to unwind. they hate him for a lot of reasons, but they also hate the idea of hillary clinton in the kwhooits, and if donald trump can convince them that he has a chance of beating hillary clinton if he has got the nomination, it's hard to see how you deny him of that. because then you can cause the republican party to implode and have no chance in the fall, because all of the donald trump supporters will say, to hell with it, we're going with somebody else or stay home. >> so 1:30 is when we will hear donald trump's response. >> it will be colorful. >> yeah, it will. >> david thank you so much. >> meanwhile the republican presidential candidates will face off again tonight in detroit. ben carson says he will not

attend the debate after landing another the bottom in super-tuesday votes. six states are holding primaries or caucuses this weekend. michigan is the biggest prize because it has 59 g.o.p. delegates up for grabs. john kasich's flailing campaign is hoping for a strong showing in michigan. he is already there holding events, and this morning he got a boost. the detroit news endorsed him. but he is far behind in delegates and so is marco rubio. diane eastabrook reports. >> reporter: marco rubio got a super star welcome in michigan one day after a bruising super-tuesday, less than a week before the michigan primary, the florida senator appealed to a crowd of nearly a thousand near detroit to block donald trump's path to the republican presidential nomination. >> what people are saying is please, everyone get together so we can keep this front runner

from winning and destroying the republican party. [ cheers and applause ] >> believe me i am a unifier. >> reporter: trump is on a roll. he also has a commanding lead going into michigan's primary next week. stopping occasionally while supporters chanted his name, rubio blasted trump for praying on voter's fears. michigan has shed more than 200,000 manufacturing jobs in the past decade. >> these jobs are being sent to other countries, or they just don't pay enough anymore. times are difficult. we have to acknowledge that reality, but we should not take advantage of that reality. >> michigan defies easy labels, it is a traditional blue collar

state, but it also is a state with a lot of independent voters. >> he is probably the most christian of the bunch. >> i have been listening to his debates and what he wants to do for this country, i think it is going to make this country the great estrogen. >> i think he'll win michigan. i do. >> reporter: but some admitted they could still be swayed by trump. >> we were kind of just wetting our feet into this whole arena, so time will tell. >> reporter: michigan voters will get one more chance to see rubio, trump, ted cruz, and john kasich debate before heading to the polls. it could be rubio's best shot at getting them into his corner. >> thank you, and god bless all of you. thank you. [ cheers and applause ]

>> diane eastabrook, al jazeera, michigan. as for the democrats they are looking ahead to contests this weekend. hillary clinton widened her lead on super-tuesday, bernie sanders did win four contests and is trying to mount a comeback. he was in michigan this morning and spoke about the current unemployment crisis. >> corporate america made the decision that they didn't want to pay workers in this country a living wage, provide health benefits, protect environmental standards, negotiate with trade unions. they didn't want to do that. what they wanted to do was shut down plants in america, go to mexico, go to china, go to desperately poor countries, hire people for pennies an hour, and then bring their products back into america. you didn't need to have a phd in economics to figure that one out. >> 11 key states are up for

grabs for the next two weeks for clinton and sanders. hillary clinton has a big lead in the delegate count as you can see there, however, in what could be a blow to the clinton complain, the justice department has offered immunity to a former state department staffer who set up her private email server. in 2009 he set up the server in her home in new york. the fbi is investigating whether clinton mishandled classified information. a spokesman for the clinton campaign said they are pleased he is cooperating with the investigation. new tensions today along the korean peninsula. south korea says the north has fired six, short-range projectiles. they were launched on the east coast. it happens hours after the u.n. security council approved the toughest sanctions on pyongyang in more than two decades. those sanctions followed a

recent nuclear test by the north. as harry fawcett reports on what reporters were told. >> reporter: in that news conference, the ministry of defense simply saying a number of projectiles had been fired into the sea off of the sowern coast of the korean peninsula. the local media are reporting a little bit more fully. they sometimes get briefings from unnamed military officials. they are talking about a range of apparently 100, to 150 kilometers. various numbers have been mentioned, six or eight to nine, projectiles. unclear how they were launched. it's understood analysis is underway on that point. the ministry of defense is saying it military remains in a heightened state of readiness,

watching out for any further actions by its counterparts in north korea. we are coming into a period of annually height owned tensions between the north and south, because military exercises are expected to get underway on the korean peninsula. this year it is expected they are to be bigger than usual, and may influence rehearsals against a presumptive strike against north korea. and north korea says it reserves the right to attack south korean seats of government. we expect a round of heightened tensions. this is the first north korean reaction to this resolution passage. it may well be that there is more to follow in the days and weeks to come. the burden of enforcing the new sanctions will fall largely on china, north korea's largest trade partner. up next, the freddie gray

case shifts to one of the highest courts. and the secret to success. the los angeles math teacher who's calculous students are going beyond just making the grade.

new information today on the flint water crisis. michigan governor, rick snyder, as hired two outside attorneys to represent him in lawsuits stemming from that water crisis. snyder as well as current and former employees have been named as defendants in a number of

lawsuits. and a number of federal agencies are also investigating what happened in flint. maryland's highest court is hearing arguments in the case of several officers accused in the death of freddie gray. the judge will decide whether officer porter can be forced to testify against his colleagues. prosecutors want porter to testify against fellow officers, both of them face manslaughter and assault charges. baltimore police are launching a criminal investigation after an officer in the city schools hit a teenager. and video shows another policeman watching as the officer hits and slaps the child. they are both on administrative leave. they are responding to a call that two intruders were inside the school. the texas state trooper who arrested sandra bland has now been formally fired from his

job. he was charged with perjury for misreporting how the traffic stop happened. bland was later found dead in her jail said. the los angeles math teacher is getting some pretty amazing results from his calculous students. he is from south korea, and together they tell an american story of hope and inspiration. jennifer london reports. >> integrate x -- >> synthetic divisions -- >> little bit easier. >> reporter: how do you get high school students interested and excited about the complicated equations and concepts behind calculus? in this case the variable equals the constant. advancement placement calculous teacher at lincoln high in east los angeles. >> mat to many people it's complicated -- >> >> reporter: i would be one of them. >> yeah, so a lot of times you

just have to sit and -- and, you know, try many, many times, and, you know, for -- for couple of times you may not get it, but with the proper assistance and support, you will eventually get it. >> his students affectionately calls him yawn. >> he knows we can do well. and i find it really helpful. >> reporter: it was his teaching and encouragement that lead one of his students so a remarkable achievement on his advanced placement calculus exam. before we tell you how the student did on the incredibly challenging exam we have a couple of numbers to consider. three hours. that is how long the exam lasted. students worldwide took this exam. one more number for you, 12.

only 12 students got a perfect score. yom's student cedrick was one of them. >> i felt very prepared going into the exam. he gave us a lot of preparation in school during class, and also out of class, where we would have additional lessons, anything we didn't cover in class, and he did a lot for us to do well. >> yom says getting a perfect score is something he may not even be able to achieve. >> i may not be able to get it perfect. because i make mistakes on a daily basis. >> reporter: when he started teaching, things didn't quite add up. >> i was just trying to get by each day. i couldn't even look at the students, because i was busy looking at the notes, and -- >> reporter: you were nervous. >> yeah, i was very nervous. return but he followed his own

advise and kept trying until he got it right. >> once i got to know the students at a personal level, that's when things turned around. so it was the kids that actually turned me around. if you could avoid it, you want to avoid it. >> reporter: and he has been known to make things fun. want to talk about instantaneous velocity, here is one way. >> alley jumps off of a building and lands and water, and we have to find out how hard she hits the water. >> reporter: but he is as much liked as feared? is he know as a gpa killer? >> that's his reputation around school, but it's because he is well-known to give a rigorous course, however, the people who actually take it, it's challenging, but over time you

just kind of grow to it, and it becomes really fun and engaging. >> reporter: so the answer is yes. >> this is a time when you get to show me how much you have learned. >> reporter: part of his relationship with his kids is he like many of them was an immigrant to this country, landing in the u.s. as a 12 year old. lincoln high school is located in a working class neighborhood. 20% of the students are english language learners. >> i share a lot of personal stories with them that i couldn't speak english, learning math and excelling in one subject, you know, actually changed my life. >> we know at least believes in us, and we have someone that believes we can do so much better, and that we're meant for so much more. >> reporter: and right now that more is another tough quiz. >> i wish you guys good luck, okay smlt >> reporter: is the gpa killer about to strike again in for

these students the answer may well be yes, but that just means they have to keep trying. jennifer london, al jazeera, lincoln heights, california. >> we need more teachers like him. a vermont college makes changes that it hopes will promote healthier living.

one college in new england is saying no to energy drinks. as ines ferre reports, the school is concerned about the

health effects, and also any connections to binge drinking. >> reporter: one new england college says it will stop selling energy drinks on campus. in a statement they say: and the school says the drinks are linked to problematic behavior, like alcohol abuse and high-risk sexual activity. energy drinks are a $12 billion industry in the u.s. us. >> people who combined energy drinks with alcohol binge drink more, and a lot of them reported difficulties sexually. some said they were more likely to take advantage of other people sexually, and this combination was deemed to be dangerous by the cdc. >> reporter: but not everyone agrees. some students say it could lead to other efforts to police their

food choices. the decision was approved by the college's community council, and the school says the students can still consume the energy drinks, they just won't be able to buy them on compass. a similar effort at the university of new hampshire quickly ended. energy drink maker, red bull says it's 8.4 ounce cans contain about the same amount of coffee as a cup of coffee, and health authorities around the world have concluded that they are same to consume. san francisco has increased the age from 18 to 21 to buy cigarettes. health officials say increasing the legal age helps encourage younger people to not smoke. the fbi has arrested a

flight attendant for allegedly setting a plane bathroom on fire. he made up several accident stories before admitting he intentionally set fire on this dallas to detroit flight earlier this month. he portrayed himself as a hero at the time, pretending to discover the fire before putting it out. thankfully no one was injured. and the race for the white house continues architects and engineers restoring the capitol dome are racing to complete their mission on time. paul beban has more. >> reporter: 52 miles of piping, 1200 gallons of paint, this is not your average facelift nflt at almost $60 million the restoration of the u.s. capitol dome is expensive and extensive, but it has been more than 150 years in the making. this week the first planks of scaffolding surrounding the cast

iron dome are finally coming off after two year's of work. while politicians bicker inside, construction crews restore the outside, protecting the 288 foot high dome from the elements that have rusted the iron and damaged the statute of freedom. at 15,000 pounds, the bronze statute was the crown jewel in 1863. but construction began decades before. it was nearly destroyed by the establish in the war of 1812, it survived and evolved. ♪ >> big cleanup in washington. the national capitol itself is the scene of a giant housecleaning job. painters get to work on the great iron dome. >> reporter: the capitol continues to be a centerpiece of history that will soon be as good as new. paul beban al jazeera.

thanks for joining us. i'm richelle carey. the news continues next live from london. ♪ >> and a very warm welcome from me to this al jazeera news hour. live from london, let's take a look at what we will be studying in detail in the next 60 minutes. >> refugees trapped in grease, block a train line economic migrants get this warning. >> wherever you are from, do not come to europe. >> the report has a rapid rise in the number of children ab duc